Anyone use a digital video camera?

[ozziedude]

Hope someone with experience and knowlege can help us - we need to film over one weekend a guest speaker (can be up close) at a conference - the speech will be 10 mins long.

Also

The day after we have opportunity to do a amateur style xxx shoot of a model.

We do not have huge $ to spend on a camera and more importantly it will be very rare that we will do this again so we dont want to buy an expensive camera when we know we wont be using it again as such.

We saw this video digital camera on ebay (its in Australian dollars which is almost same ish value as usd just to keep it simply so you know what the price is etc (see below link) just released so no reviews etc and yes its not a high end brand new one etc BUT would it be ok for this above one off shoots ? The conference speak will just be burned onto cdrom for keep sake and the xxx adult shoot we might edit and use on one of our web sites.

Heres the camera click here

Any help would be appreciated !

[GPallan]

if i were you i would NOT rely on such a cheap (and brand less??) camcorder for such an important event. I would try and buy something with 3CCDs' for that extra bit of quality (I think Basschick just bought a pretty decent one for was it $800US?). If you're in the US, doesn't Best Buy have a two-week return policy on their camcorders? hhhmmmmm

[longboardjim]

if i were you i would NOT rely on such a cheap (and brand less??) camcorder for such an important event. I would try and buy something with 3CCDs' for that extra bit of quality (I think Basschick just bought a pretty decent one for was it $800US?). If you're in the US, doesn't Best Buy have a two-week return policy on their camcorders? hhhmmmmm

, ohhh your sooo bad! , return? :goof:

sincerely ~ ..."your not getting validated!"...

[GPallan]

, ohhh your sooo bad! , return? :goof:

sincerely ~ ..."your not getting validated!"...

i was merely bringing up a fact. God knows, i would NEVER suggest actually doing such a thing :devil:

[longboardjim]

just the same , i'm hiding the "silver!" when you come for a visit! :goof:

sincerely ~ ..."access denied!"...

p.s ~ i've been watching your "work" samples that you post! , very good work gpallen , just thought you should know!

[longboardjim]

Hope someone with experience and knowlege can help us - we need to film over one weekend a guest speaker (can be up close) at a conference - the speech will be 10 mins long.

Also

The day after we have opportunity to do a amateur style xxx shoot of a model.

We do not have huge $ to spend on a camera and more importantly it will be very rare that we will do this again so we dont want to buy an expensive camera when we know we wont be using it again as such.

We saw this video digital camera on ebay (its in Australian dollars which is almost same ish value as usd just to keep it simply so you know what the price is etc (see below link) just released so no reviews etc and yes its not a high end brand new one etc BUT would it be ok for this above one off shoots ? The conference speak will just be burned onto cdrom for keep sake and the xxx adult shoot we might edit and use on one of our web sites.

Heres the camera click here

Any help would be appreciated !

i saw this post earlier this morning ( yeah i was up earlier! ) , i am not familiar with the company so i cannot determine it's performance for price.
perhaps you could "borrow" a camera and/or "rent" one from a company or someone you know? since this is a one time thing.
should you decide you want to take up photography i can better direct you!

sincerely ~ ..."photographers on college campuses wanted!"... :goof:

[basschick]

leasing a camciorder is an option. or if you want to go the less expensive route and buy, here's a great list - each camera here has at least user reviews. but more importantly, when you click the name of a camera, some have Pro Reviews. if they have dvspot reviews listed under Pro Reviews, that includes videos from the camera - a shaker test, a light test, a noise test and an all around video.

[ozziedude]

thanks all for posts todate - anyone else want to share any input ? - basschick you mentioned about a great list but you didnt mention it or show what it was ?

[gaybucks_chip]

Panasonic makes two good quality 3-ccd camcorders that are quite inexpensive for the quality they offer... the PV-GS65, the PV-GS150, and the PV-GS250. They range in price from about $500-700. They aren't the same quality as a $3500 pro camcorder, but they are noticeably better than a $250 low-end DV camcorder.

If those are out of your budget, I'd say the low-end Canon ZR100 (usually $300 or so) is one of the better of the single-chip cameras, though none of the ones from major manufacturers are awful.

The one you linked to is a low end piece of shit. It's designed only for low-resolution web video (640x480, which isn't even full screen by today's standards) and probably records direct to flash media or something, which means it's compressing the crap out of the image before saving. I'd say stay away. If you *must* get something in that price range, buy a 3 or 4 year old Canon or Sony DV camcorder used off of Ebay. It will be light years better in quality.

[MisterMark]

I bought a Sony consumer camcorder last year for about $700 and the video is beautiful. You don't have to spend a fortune to get an excellent picture. Just avoid the off-name and cheapie brands.

[Lee]

You can actually pick up a reasonable camcorder for around $500 at any electronics store, i know places like Best Buy in the US have regular sales on camcorders that will be more than enough for what you need it for where their prices come down below $500.

Go to one of your local electronic retailers and ask one of the clerks there if they can offer you any discounts or, as Basshick mentioned, find a rental place

Regards,

Lee

[basement]

For use on the web in much compressed form i think u will find something like Sony trv6 quite satisfactory. used one should be quite cheap. I have had mine 4 yrs and into sonyshop for a $100 tune up only once. i have sold thousands of dollars of content shot on it to other webmasters.